Debs Gerrard, Albion London

May 01, 2014

How long?

1-1 minutes

Debs Gerrard29 associate creative director, Albion London

Gerrard got her second job in advertising, temping as an account executive at Saatchi & Saatchi Auckland, when she was still at university. She got her first job when she was eight, cast as the lead in a commercial for Sammies, a cheese-filled biscuit sold south of the equator. Gerrard hated the biscuits but fell in love with advertising. After four years at Saatchi & Saatchi Auckland, she moved to London and freelanced before landing a job at Albion.

Gerrard says: "In New Zealand, agencies are a lot smaller and so they do everything. But, in the UK, they tend to specialise. What I enjoy about Albion is that it’s more like the agencies back home."

At Albion, Gerrard has created a social campaign for Jose Cuervo that helped the tequila brand gain a million Twitter fans, spearheaded the V energy-drink work targeting internet trolls and won a bronze Cannes Lion with a radio spot for the blood-cancer charity Anthony Nolan.

"Debs has one of those fantastic, never-give-up attitudes," Jason Goodman, Albion’s chief executive, says. "Her positive Kiwi view of the world is a good force at Albion."